1. Technical Field
The present teaching relates to process sharing between independent medical imaging systems.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In medical imaging, patient data may be processed and viewed with different applications. There is a need to share processes among such independent applications on the same computer to ensure a smooth and integrated workflow. For example, within one application, a user may want to use another dedicated application to further analyze patient data. To achieve that, conventionally, code level integration between the different applications is a commonly used resolution. For example, a dedicated Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) system is designed to identify locations of suspicious regions and provide interactive tools to evaluate the regions of interest (ROI) in various ways. A Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) is a dedicated platform to store and view medical images. One way to enable special purpose applications, such as the CAD systems or 3D visualization systems on PACS system is to conduct code level integration between the PACS and the application systems. For example, a designated button may be placed in PACS graphics user interface (GUI) and a click of the button may activate the CAD application to analyze the patient data with tools offered by the CAD system. However, code level integration between independent systems solves the problem only to some extent. Considering the fact that there are numerous special purpose applications and PACS systems on the market, integrating these systems requires tremendous amount of engineering work from each vendor. Furthermore, release of a new version of software from one vendor may need additional validation efforts from the other vendor and may inevitably lengthen the release procedure. This may impose a significant burden on application vendors and PACS vendors. In addition, it makes it much harder for users to promptly utilize latest technologies because newly developed special purpose applications or PACS systems may have to first undergo extensive and continuous integration efforts in order to enable users to enjoy the integrated benefits. With more application vendors and more PACS vendors emerging, the situation become more and more infeasible. The underlying reason for this chaos is the mutual dependence created by the code level integration.
Given this situation, a scalable architecture that enables inter-operability among independent medical systems is needed.